Ouya Team Now Working With Nvidia
The Ouya team is now working with Nvidia to optimize the Android console for Tegra 3.
As of Monday morning, the Ouya Kickstarter project had reeled in 38,285 backers who pledged $4,888,038 USD, far exceeding the original goal of $950,000. Now sitting on a potential mountain of cash (with more likely to come), the team is currently focused on the task of getting the $99 product out to market.
The latest update reports that the team is working with Nvidia to streamline the Ouya design for the Tegra 3 SoC. "We spent yesterday with Nvidia talking about our chips," the update reads. "The team is great and their support has been incredible. They're working side by side with us, and they'll help us maximize the performance of the Tegra 3 chipset we're using."
The team also mentions that they may grant developers even earlier access than previously planned. "We had a crazy idea -- if folks are interested -- we might consider a reward that would allow devs to start working from the raw circuit board at an even earlier date, allowing them to get a head start on development. And maybe we'd add one more level that gives you just the software -- no early console."
"Obviously, if you have the Android SDK, you know most of what you need to know -- we'll just need to add in a few elements specific to Ouya -- things like assets for promoting on the console and our payments API," the team adds.
Based on the Kickstarter numbers, five backers have pledged $10,000 or more. These people will have their user name and backer number engraved into the entire first production run of consoles. They'll also be invited to attend a private pre-launch dinner party which will also include an inner circle of game developers and designers.
As for the console, the team said it will be easy to root, and easy to open, as it uses standard screws. Hardware hackers can create their own peripherals, and connect via USB or Bluetooth. The actual console specs include Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 SoC, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal storage, HDMI output (although it needs standard video out too), 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, Bluetooth LE 4.0, and a USB 2.0 port.
"Because OUYA is based on Android, any app developer could publish their Android app to OUYA. The possibilities are limitless, and conversations with potential partners are already underway," the team states.
In essence, the selling points for this console are already offered by a PC, minus the $99 part.
While I find it impressive that the kickstarter project raised lots of funding so quickly, I'm going to pass on the tempting offer to throw in $100 so I can play angry birds on my TV.
And the Ouya will likely STILL have better graphics....and?
I won't be buying, obviously, but this will be fun to watch. Oh, and with "things like assets for promoting on the console", these guys will make some change as well.
Will this model be successful? I don't know. However, it will be interesting to watch if this shakes up a stale industry.
Agreed. And when you remember how much more Android consumes resources than your standard console OS, it gets even weaker.
Oh, and for everyone touting it as open. Sure, you can do with it anything you like, much as you can with a PC, but rooting it will disable official app-market, etc.
That's "true" as also is that your android phone from 2 years ago can be upgraded with an Exynos or Tegra 3
Come on, really ??!!!
Open software is not open hardware, you can make any program you want put you can't play with it's hardware as if it was made like a LEGO. You can't unless you know a ton of electronics and have the original BIOS to play with, even so, not worth the time, better play with an FPGA.
It is not meant for serious gamers. Much like Game boy. During Game Boy's time, it was very popular and very under powered.
the console will likely ave its own market instead of the standard android market. if the team behind it is touting "itll be easy to root" I doubt theyll ban users who root the console. As for it being too weak, it really doesnt matter. this console is NOT competing with other android phones and tablets. its very much like the pc where people have a free will to develope whatever they want with it. and its very similar to other consoles because developers will be optimizing and making games for 1 chipset. indie devs will definitely hop on, and if were lucky we'd get good games on it.
also saw someone complaining about superiority of mouse and keyboard. you should know that alot of games suck when played with keyboard and are amazing when played with a controller.
Im a pc gamer myself, but I find it awfully irritating when I see pc fanboys raging on every console they see. I see them the exact same way as they see apple sheep. alot of the time have a point, but alot of the time are just pathetic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBl-goBrWno&feature=relmfu
I think that some really great games could be written for it. And at $99 it doesn't need to compete with the PS3 or XBOX360. Maybe against the Wii.
lol great comment, I guess they are expecting 700 dollars or so of gaming pc hardware lol for a 100 bucks.
+LIKE!